Safety soap and washcloth hanger



April 6, 1948, v COLLINS 2,439,238

SAFETY SOAP AND WASHCLOTH HANGER Filed May 21, 1946 36. 2 a k: I I u --36:' 5

at 2a l 24 INVENTOR:

Patented Apr. 6, 1948 UNITED STATES PATENT, OFFICE SAFETY SOAP AND WASHCLOTH HANGER Leon L. Collins, Savannah, Ga.

Application May 21, 1946, Serial No. 671,365

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to hanger-type holders for soap, washclothsand the like, more particularly but without absolute limitation for use in connection with shower baths.

The prime object is to produce a device or utility of a character which possesses practical features of safety as well as convenience in manipulation and use of the same, and which can be hung in the immediate bathing area within easy reach of the batherand with safety and in avoidance of accidents and injuries which otherwise frequently occur to bathers due to the drop- Ding of soap, washcloths and other articles, and slipping in reaching for soap, washcloths and the like as ordinarily and usually heretofore placed in definite side positions.

Another object is to produce a device or utility of a hanger-type embodying a spring-wound supporting spool or reel secured at an elevation and from which depends an extension cord normally wound on the spool or reel by the reactive unwinding action of the wound spring of the spool or reel, the cord carrying-at its outer end a pocket or container for soap, washcloth or the like, and being graspable by the bather and drawn extensibly to the desired or necessary length for use of the contents of the pocket or container.

A further object is to produce a simple yet efficient and durable structure which is easily and inexpensively manufactured.

Other objects and advantages to be attained will hereinafter more fully appear in the following description.

A practical but non-limiting exemplification of the invention is illustrated, in the accompanying drawings, wherein: l

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the device of the invention, showing in side elevation a form of supporting bracket from which the device is hung;

Figure 2 is an end Viewof the cord holding and reeling portion of the device detached; and

Figure 3 is a detached view showing details of the spool or reel spindle and spring construction and arrangement. 1 a

Referring now to the drawings in detail, the numeral 5 designates generally a supporting bracket which is attached as at 6 to a representation I of an upright support or a side wall portion.

As shown, the bracket 5 is formed of heavy wire, comprising an upper horizontal bar 8 and a lower inclined bar 9, the inner end portions of said bars being respectively turned angularly,

as at l0, ll, said end portions l0 and II being fitted hingedly-in alin'ed vertical bores provided therefor in a base bracket member l2, through which the aforesaid upright or wall attachment 6 is effected.

The forward end portions of the bracket bars 8 and 9 are brought together and formed with side-by-side registered loops as at l3. Intermediate the opposite ends of the bracket bars 8 and 9, the same are braced by a strut member l4.

Hingedly suspended and freely swingable on the bracket 5 is the main structural element of the device assembly of the invention to be no described.

As shown, this main element, designated generally by the numeral l5, comprises an open frame made of wire which is relatively stiff and form retentive but possessing a certain degree of inherent resiliency for a purpose to be later more fully described.

The main frame I 5, which is formed from a single piece of wire, comprises a pair of parallel vertical side bars 16. Said bars l6 are cross-connected by an alined counterpart pair of upper reversely and compoundedly angulary bent and curved, somewhat archedly connected bars IT, the meeting inner end portions of said bars I! being twisted together, as at l8, producing an upstanding neck, and at the end of said neck portion l8, the parallel extreme end portions of the wire being formed into a pair of side-by-side registered loops IS,

The registered loops H! are provided for use in suspendedly hanging the device of the present invention in the use thereof. Asshown, the loops l9 are hingedly secured in the loop portion I3 of the supporting bracket 5. However, in some adaptations and uses of the device of the present invention, the loop portion 9 of the device may be obviously attached in a conventional manner directly to horizontalsupport of a suitable kind, as, for example, a ceiling.

The main frame |5 further comprises a pair of alined'lower bars 20 of similar shape as the aforesaid upper bars I1, but instead of being arched like said bars H, the lower bars 20 are sagged where they meet at the middle thereof. The integral sagged middle connecting portion of the pair of lower bars 20 is looped, as at 2|, with a twisted neck portion 22, and said loop 2| is turned substantially at right angles to the vertieal plane of the frame (see Figure 2). The loop 2| is provided as a guide eye through which the elongated cord element 23 is threaded and guided in its lengthwise movement to and from a spool or reel element of the device, designated generally by the numeral24.

The spool or reel 24 includes two right-angularly crossed open frames 25, 26, of generally oblong or substantially rectangular form except that instead of its longitudinal and end sides being straight throughout the extent thereof, the end sides are bowed outwardly, as at 21, and the longitudinal sides are undulated, at at 28 (see Figure 1).

The inner end of the cord element 23 is attached in any suitable manner to the spool or reel 24 and the cord is then coiled and wound upon and unwound from the spool or reel in the use of the device as will be presently described. As shown (see Figure 1) an aperture 29 is provided in at least one of the longitudinal sides of the spool or reel 24, into which aperture 29 the extreme inner end portion of the cord 23 is in- 1 serted before the cord is wound upon the spool or reel, Obviously, in the complete winding of the cord 23 on the spool or reel, there is a large multiplicity of coils thereabout, but to minimize the work of illustration and the possible unnecessary covering and obscuring of some of the structural features, only afew coils of the cord 23' On'the spool 'or'reel 24 are shown by way of example in Figure '1. 1 v

To the lower end of the cord element 23 is at tachedapocket element or container 359 for soap, a washcloth or other essential or needed article to be'usedin taking-a bath. No detail structural feature of the pocket or container 3i! is illustrated as the same, of itself, is not a part of the present invention. Suffice it to say, that in the regular and more general use'for which the'device of the present invention is designed, the pocket or container element 30 is usually made of a suitable cloth or washable fabric and of any desirable size and form.

As'shown, the pocket element or container 3% is provided with an attaching member 3!, which is connected swivelly, as at 32, to a connector memoer 33, to which latter the lower end of the cord element 23 is securely fastened in any'suitable or obvious manner. 7

In the use of the device of the present invention, the cord connector nipple-like element 33 may come in contact with'guide eye 2! of the main frame 15 when the cord 23 is fully wound on the spool or reel 24, or in cases when a substantial length of the unwound cord is desired or necessary to be held extended belowthe guide eye 2|, a knot 34 may be tied in the cord, as indicated in Figures 1 and 2. Obviously, this knot 3% is readily tied and untied, at will, by a user of the device.

The spool or reel 24 is detachably mounted in the main frame I5. As shown, the mounting includes anaxle shaft 35. This shaft 35 extends from end to end of the main frame I and preferably with each end of theshaft extended a little beyond the vertical members it of the frame (see Figure l) The opposite end portions of the axle shaft are provided With open-ended longitudinal slots 35, which fit tightly on flattened middle portions 36 of thevertical end members it of the main frame i5. In applying and removing the axle shaft .35, the frame end members it are readily .sprung outwardly from each other sufiiciently to clear the ends of the shaft in moving the same into place and in dismounting it, the frame members, by their resiliency, springing back into normal position and into holding relation if the axle shaft 3.5 is in placed position. The axle shaft placed in position in the main 4 frame I5 is securely supported and held from turning.

As shown more clearly in Figure 3, the crossed end portions .24 of the spool or reel frames 25 and 28 are provided with longitudinally alined apertures in which are fixedly fitted bearing bushings 31, which latter are sleeved rotatably on the stationary axle shaft 35. The spool or reel 24 is thus mounted freely rotatable on the shaft 35.

Fixedlysecuredto one of the bearing bushings 31 is a cupped element 38 that rotates with the spool or reel 24, while fixed on the axle shaft 35, adjacent its end opposite, that near to which the cupped element 38 on the spool or reel 24 is located, is a collar 39, which latter, of course, is non-rotatable.

An elongated helical spring element 40 is coiled freelyand loosely around the axle shaft 35, one end M of the spring being secured to the annular flange of the cupped element 38 and the other end'42 of the spring beingsecured to the collar re. In this way, rotation of the spool or reel 24 in one direction, say by pulling the cord element 23, the spring element 40 is wound, and by releasing the-pulling hold .on the-cord element 23, the spring unwinds and reversely rotates the spool or reel 24, and .cord element'thereuponbecomes rewound-on thespool or .reel.

A device of thecharacterherein illustrated'and described'is easily installed and safely used in connection with a shower bath-or place of use, particularly in large bath places in association with railroad shops, machine shops, and other work places where bath facilities are necessarily provided for use by relatively flarge number of persons at the same time and=the=sllippery condition of the floorsof the bath place makes it rather hazardous for persons having to reach here and there for soap, washcloths and the like, as usually heretofore placed in holders positioned in definite'side positions. An important advantage in the use of the device of-the present invention is due to-thezflexibility and extensibility thereof, with the provisionatthe lower end. of the cord element of- -the pocket element or container for soap, washcloth :or other essential articles used in bathing. So, too, the assembled working parts of the-device are easilysdiscmantled ior repair and replacement. j,

a The illustrated structure is but one practical exemplification of theinvention; Hence, modification and change is contemplated within the spirit and scope of the appended claim, The invention, therefore, is not limited to the specif c construction and arrangement -shown.- What is claimed is: r

As-an article of manufacture, .a safety device for supporting .soap and bathing articles conveniently located foruse in bathing which device comprises, in combination, an open frame of stiff, form-retentive, inherently resilientwire formed to provide a parallel :pair-"of opposite vertical side bars, corresponding intermediate portions of said :side bars being flattened, :theends of said wire being joined to form anhookto-provide a central balancing means of supporting attachment at its top, said *wire being formed to provide a guide eye at its bottom, a horizontal shafthaving open-ended longitudinal slots in its opposite .-end portions, said slotted end portions of the shaft being slidably fitted-tightly on said flattened frame side bar' portions to be retained from :rotation, a reel element comprising a crossed pair -of elongated substantially ob long open frames, the crossed opposite transverse end members of said reel frames being apertured in longitudinal alignment and axially of the reel, bearing bushings fitted in said axial end apertures of the reel element and freely rotatable on said shaft, an elongated helical spring surrounding said shaft and with its ends secured to said shaft and said reel respectively, an elongated cord element attached to and wound on said reel element and threaded through said guide eye, a swivel attached to the free end of said cord element, a mesh container attached to said swivel, means for limiting the retraction of said cord by said reel, and a bracket formed by wire bent to provide angularly disposed arms having inturned ends, a support for removably receiving said ends, and a link between said arms and slidable thereon to space them in selected angular relationship to be retained on said support or removed therefrom.

LEON L. COLLINS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 114,948 Judd May 16, 1871 909,726 Williams Jan. 12, 1909 1,063,149 Doolittle May 27, 1913 1,157,897 Peloquin Oct. 26, 1915 1,528,005 Cannaday Mar. 3, 1925 1,982,042 Basler Nov. 2'7, 1934 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 26,051 Great Britain Dec. 14, 1905 

